A large volume silo of the inner conical style is known. Such silos are centrally provided with an upwardly extending conical area, along the sloped sides of which the sinking loose material slides into an outer annular area located adjacent to the silo wall. In this outer annular area, which is generally located in the circular silo base between the sides of the central cone and the silo wall, there typically will be particulate outlets through which material will pass to a collection point located outside the silo. Generally, air conveyor chutes will convey the bulk material from such particulate outlets to the outside collection point. Such a collection point is typically a storage tank. Such a design is material intensive, requiring a filter or vent bin in addition to the storage tank.
Typically, the air conveyors utilized in such silos as a means of moving material from within to outside the silo are fluidization conveyors, such as Airslide.RTM. fluidization conveyors, which require the fluidization of the bulk material. As a result, the material, which is originally compacted within the silo, must be fluidized and as such will take up more space than when it is in a non-fluidized state, thus requiring large volume, material intensive conveying devices. Obviously, when a fluidization conveying process is utilized the material will have to be separated from the conveying air. Such systems require high air to material ratios, thus placing demands on the system to employ heavy duty filters and the like. Such fluidized conveyors also use a relatively extensive amount of power and incorporate valving, for example, shut-off valves which can be entirely closed or, if desired, opened to a greater or lesser extent, to control material withdrawal.
One object of the invention is to provide a silo in which the material costs are reduced compared to prior art inner cone silos.
A further object of the invention is to provide a silo utilizing internal conveying devices that do not take up as much space or have the same power requirements as the standard fluidizing devices typically utilized in silos.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a silo of the inner cone type in which a significant portion of the stored material can be withdrawn without extensive power requirements.
These and other objects are realized by the silo of the present invention which in the preferred embodiment is of the inner cone type in which, in one embodiment, material is transported from a plurality of particulate outlets arranged in a radial manner on the annular silo base to one or more collection points which, unlike in prior art designs, are located in the interior of the silo body.
The silo design of the present invention eliminates a significant amount of equipment, including the storage tank and any associated filters or vent bin.